Sweden stun champions Australia; to play US next

Jonas Bjorkman and Thomas Enqvist won Sunday’s concluding reverse singles to give Sweden a surprise 4-1 win over defending champions Australia in the first round of the Davis Cup in Adelaide.

Bjorkman, called in as a late substitute for Robin Soderling, crushed Australia’s Mark Philippoussis 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 to give the Scandinavians an unbeatable 3-1 lead. Then Enqvist rubbed more salt into Australia’s wounds when he beat Wayne Arthurs 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 in the dead rubber. Sweden advanced to a quarter-final showdown against the United States in April while condemning Australia to the playoffs in September.

“We knew that we had to do something really, really good to come through so it’s definitely a big upset,” Bjorkman told a news conference.

“It is never easy to beat the champions from last year. You always hope to win but I never really thought that we could maybe do it.”